“Mean Girls” Bullying on Social Media

It was Marshall McLuhan who wrote the Medium is the Message. Love to hear what he would say today about the easy abuse of social media by mean girls-young and old.

McLuhan wrote in 1967 that we live in a complex system of information, physically, physiologically, nervously, humanly. McLuhan also warned us about the need to pay attention to changes brought about by technology;the good and the bad: extensions and amputations. He wrote the telephone extends the voice, but also amputates the art of penmanship gained through regular correspondence. I think it safe to say that social media was also the beginning of an amputation in person to person interaction which allows the brain to pick up the minutiae of signals that enable us to “read” others.

And this leads me to adults bullying across Social Media.

It never ceases to amaze me when adults decide that bullying is the best response to a Conservative writer. I have contributed to media sites from left to right. And the only site where I was attacked, by packs, was Huffington Post Canada.

I was recently attacked on Social Media by a gaggle of wolves-whom the leader of the pack referred to as her “Homies.” I know I mixed expressions: gaggle of geese and a pack of wolves. But describing these women as a gaggle of wolves is much better. They are a gaggle-which reminds me of women sitting around and sharing gossip, squawking, and they are wolves because they circle their prey in the hope they will destroy them. Feminists-you know this is true!

I had written some positive comments about Donald Trump and apparently that was verboten. The assumption from this gaggle was that I was an American. And then I had the audacity to say I would be happy to swap Trudeau for Trump. It was my fault that the conversation turned to Trudeau. I was told in no uncertain terms that I had no right to be on that thread. What? Do these people not know that posting an article on your page makes it available to the timelines of others?

This gaggle of wolves has developed a system of attacking, of bullying, of demeaning and denigrating others whose opinion differs from theirs. This is Progressive social discourse, today.

This latest incarnation of “mean girls” attacked me for writing for Canada Free Press (This is the link they sent me)

As for the site you write for: Canada Free Press it is contagious, like a conspiracy theorist right wing rag.

I remember when I was a young girl. I remember the cliques. I remember the bullies. One hopes that life experiences will end this kind of mean spirited attack. Sadly, in this time, in particular, we have women who still engage in group bullying. In low blows in order to destroy their prey. I am unafraid of bullies. I was bully-proofed when I was eight years old.

I have no doubt they have injured many people. They remind me of the people who bullied Amanda Todd who took her life. In my opinion she took her life, not because she was bullied; millions don’t commit suicide when bullied. It is that bullying can lead to depression which can lead to suicide.

“Suicide continues to be one of the leading causes of death among children under the age of 14.
Many studies show that being bullied can cause mental illness in children. A study done in Britain in 2009 found that children who get bullied are often less confident and more emotional than their peers who aren’t victimized. Researchers found a relationship between bullying and psychotic symptoms. ‘The greater the severity of bullying, the stronger the link – suggests that bullying actually helped
cause children’s psychotic symptoms, rather than vice-versa.’”

Bullying at any age can be devastating; especially when there are millions of people with mental illness on line. One would think that these “adults” would know better. Once diagnosed with a mental illness one lives with it forever. Where is the concern for safe spaces for those who carry on with that mental illness?

It was Marshall McLuhan who wrote the medium is the message. Love to hear what he would say to say about the easy abuse of social media by “mean girls;” young and old.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month in America. There are great organizations reaching out to those with mental illness who are afraid to speak.

And now in America #MyYoungerSelf where celebrities share their stories about how they dealt with depression to give hope to young people. Many of whom are bullied. At least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”